


Helping Hand

by padfootfreak14



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:13:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23705161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootfreak14/pseuds/padfootfreak14
Summary: I see so many fics about the reader being jealous of Claire and don't like that so I kinda want a fic where Claire is just BAMF and helps the completely oblivious reader realize that Owen is trying to ask her out!Thanks a bunch!
Relationships: Owen Grady/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Helping Hand

A lot around this place had changed, some things were nearly unrecognizable but others were almost exactly the same. Almost was the key word in that sentence because while most people probably would’ve called it the same, you could see the changes. You could see the subtle changes and for the most part you knew the reason behind them which was more than you can say for anyone else that even noticed the changes.

The paddock had changes that were obvious enough to anyone. No more Hoskins or his InGen buddies milling around, which quieted the place down a bit and had everyone else less on edge. That change however, could have just as well come across as people who chose not to come back so you really needed to know something about the paddock to notice it. The biggest difference was the raptors themselves. Echo and Charlie gone quieted the place down considerably and left the paddock with what you considered to be the two calmest of the original four. Blue and Delta weren’t entirely sure what to do with just the two of them but they understood that their sisters weren’t coming back. They still hadn’t entirely come out of their grief and you refused to hear from anyone that they were just animals and weren’t grieving anything.

The changes in Owen had been less obvious to most. He was of course more relaxed working with the girls because Hoskins was gone, but you saw the stress it caused him trying to figure out what to do now that it was just Blue and Delta. Barry still hadn’t decided for certain if he was coming back, which left you and Owen trying to decide if having the lab hatch a few new raptors would be a good idea or not. On one hand it might help with the pack dynamics, having more than just two raptors and their humans. Then again the girls might not accept any new additions, and there could and probably would be fighting when the new additions got older. There was also the possibility that the girls would take to the new raptors as if they were their young. There wasn’t any way to know how they were going to react and neither of you were sure you’d get approval given that the raptors weren’t on display to the general public. The plan for the time being was to see how things went and go from there.

That wasn’t the only change with Owen, in your opinion he’d started getting weird, at least with you. He would start like he was trying to get at something and then clam up or change the subject out of nowhere. He’d started sticking closer to you, which you typically just attributed to him being overprotective after the incident but it was still unusual for him. The two of you had been reasonably close before, naturally a bit closer after the fact but Owen had never kept such a watchful eye over you like he was now. You didn’t mind how close he always was, but it was just really unusual to have coming from Owen. In all honesty you enjoyed the increasing amount of time you spent with him even if you weren’t a fan of the nights he’d show up at your door looking terribly upset about something. He’d always get awkward the next morning as if he was putting you out or something because you let him stay the night. He’d be practically glued to your side during the day but spending the night with you got him acting all weird. You were having a hell of a time trying to figure him out anymore.

Another one of the more obvious differences was Claire. You couldn’t remember a time that she’d ever come out to the paddock before but now she came out fairly often. Both your and Owen’s relationship with her had improved considerably, which you hoped might help your case if the decision was made to add to the pack. You wouldn’t manipulate your new friendship, but Claire could understand the need for balance and she knew that half the pack had been lost in the effort to save the place. You were just happy that someone else had taken a real interest in how the girls were doing. You attributed her interest to having seen the girls in their element but part of you was surprised after being chased by them that Claire wanted to be anywhere near them.

For a while you’d been thinking there was something going on with Claire and Owen. You thought it was reasonable enough to think, they had after all made out for a little bit while fighting dinosaurs and what you thought was at the very least some sexual tension. Owen and Claire had both been quick to correct your assumption both times you’d asked one of them how things were going. Given that both of them insisted they were just friends and the whole kissing thing had been a one off you were inclined to believe them. It wasn’t as if either of them had anything to gain by lying to you about it, if they wanted to date all the power to them and if they just wanted to be friends that was fine too. It did however cross off about the only reason you’d come up with for Owen getting so jumpy whenever he spent the night.

The man was a damn mystery and you couldn’t understand him, but understanding why Owen was being so weird wasn’t your foremost thought or priority. The girls were where you focused your attention, you were almost completely fixated on the girls at all times. You carefully monitored their behavior, took note of what changes they’d made since the incident and essentially focused almost all your time and energy on them. Everyone at the paddock could’ve sprouted tails or been walking around stark naked and you’d probably not even notice. You noticed that Blue had started seeming fonder of you than she had before which only served to excite you. She’d never hated you but Blue had always been Owen’s girl, devoted to no one else and you were lucky if she tolerated you. You’d always been one of the few lucky enough to have Blue okay with you but now it was like she actually really liked you.

Owen wished you’d pay just a little more attention to everything else around you instead of just Blue and Delta. The girls would be just find if you weren’t focused on them all the time. Even at home you were like that, going over your observations, making notes, going over new notes and old notes and just going on about the girls. He’d love to just have a conversation with you that didn’t end up being about the girls. He loved your enthusiasm for them and all but good lord. The last time you’d broken conversation about something having to do with the girls you’d implied that something was going on between him and Claire and Owen had wished there was a hole nearby he could’ve buried himself in. Not that Claire wasn’t fantastic, but that wasn’t what he was going for.

"Owen I don't see why you don’t just ask her out and be done with it. It isn’t like you’re known for your subtlety.” Claire was less helpful than Owen was hoping for. He’d hope for some sort of miraculous insight on how the hell he could get your attention off the girls long enough to have a conversation, ask you out. He needed something so that it wasn’t just him agreeing that the girls seemed to be doing decent at the moment and yes, it did seem like Blue liked you better now. He didn’t tell you that probably had more to do with him talking to Blue about you than it did with Blue deciding she really liked you all of a sudden. He knew as well as you did that the girls listened and largely understood what they heard, apparently including when you tell them about someone you have your eye on but they’re completely oblivious.

“Yeah except I already did that. She thought I meant I wanted to take her out to dinner to continue discussing the paddock even though we talk about it every day.” If he’d thought his date with Claire had gone badly, his ‘date’ with you had gone much worse. Nothing like asking a woman out when she doesn’t even realize it’s supposed to be a real date. It might’ve helped if he’d have realized what you thought it was before you were out together, at which point he thought it would’ve been weird to point out that he’d been asking you out for real, not as his coworker.

“You didn’t correct her?!”

“If you were out with someone and you didn’t think it was a real date, how would you feel if they stopped you in the middle of the date and told you that they were asking you out on an actual date?”

“Probably really awkward.” So he had a point, but Claire was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that you could possibly be that oblivious. She knew you were a smart woman but Owen wasn’t subtle as a rule of thumb and Claire was pretty sure that anyone else would take one look and realize that Owen was interested in you. Claire has almost immediately noticed the way he looked at you, the way he moved in a little closer when you were by him. It screamed to her that he was interested, if Owen hadn’t told her differently she would have thought there was already something there. “Let me see if I can get her to be less oblivious, or at least get her to pay a little less attention to the raptors.”

“No offense Claire but I think you’re the last person that’s going to get her to focus on something else.”

“Or maybe she needs someone that doesn’t have anything to do with the paddock to make her realize that she’s living and breathing it. I’m sure you appreciate her dedication but you’ve already said you wish she’d think about something else once in a while.”

“If you really want to try I’m not gonna stop you.” Part of Owen hoped that she could get through to you. He really did love your dedication to the paddock and to the girls but he liked it better before when he could hold conversations with you about something other than work, when it seemed like you might’ve felt something for him too instead of feeling like you were just channeling everything you had into the girls. The girls would do more than fine without occupying your thoughts twenty-four seven. Even if it didn’t go well Owen would have loved nothing more than to take you out somewhere. Hell, he wouldn’t even mind if it was just the two of you sitting at one person’s house or the other just enjoying a good meal and hanging out.

Claire had a few option in her quest to help Owen and get you to realize how interested in you he was. She would try subtly first, try to get your attention off the paddock. What she intended to say or do to keep your attention off the paddock to give Owen half a chance she wasn’t sure but that was just one of her options. If that didn’t work she’d have to try outright breaking it to you. Owen probably wouldn’t like her telling you that he wanted to ask you out but if it got him the date he was after he couldn’t really complain much. As expected, you were just as easy for her to find as Owen had been, probably even easier.

You were a bit like Owen when it came to things like being in the office. You avoided going in unless at all necessary and had always preferred being on top of the paddock or in the cage. Today was a cage day and you were content to sit and watch the girls inside their paddock. Watching them reminded you to talk to Claire next time you saw her about what the chances were of hatching a couple of new raptors, maybe ones with feathers or something else interesting. They could be your girls and Owen could have Blue and Delta back. That would be nice, have your own part of the pack, you could be their favorite but you’d let Owen keep his position of Alpha. Really you didn’t care how the dynamics worked so long as you had a happy healthy pack. You were distracted enough by the pair in front of you that you didn’t hear anyone coming and it was the girls’ reaction that made you realize.

"Y/N! You might be the easiest person to find on the island.” Claire was definitely not wrong, you were either around the paddock somewhere or at home. Sometimes you were at Owen’s but that was close enough to home that it was practically the same thing. You were if nothing else a creature of habit.

“You’re probably right,” You laughed. “The girls have gotten so used to you they barely bother to react anymore.” You were a bit jealous, though just because they didn’t react didn’t mean they had decided that they liked Claire. They just deemed her little enough of a threat that they didn’t feel the need to throw a fit if she was approaching. You they let touch them, a privilege otherwise extended only to Owen and Barry.

“I think that we have different ideas of them not reacting.” The pair may not be lunging at the bars but they watched her every move. If that was your idea of the raptors not reacting perhaps you’d gotten used to this behavior from them.

“They watch everyone like that, even Owen. If they aren’t watching they’re listening. If they don’t try and come at you when you walk in you’re doing good. Can I ask you something?”

“If it’s about your raptors or about this paddock I get to ask something back and you have to answer.”

“Totally a deal. What do you think the odds are of us getting a few more raptors? I mean it isn’t like things aren’t good with just Delta and Blue but they haven’t been as good as they were before. They aren’t listening to Owen like they were before and I think it’s because without Charlie and Echo the pack dynamic is all messed up. Owen and I have been back and forth about whether or not it’s a good idea, if the girls would react alright but if it isn’t even a possibility of happening it isn’t worth continuing to stress about.”

Claire expected your question to have something to do with your work, if it would have been anything else she would have been surprised. She was however expecting something more opinion related and not for you to call on her professional ability. Sure it was you mostly asking her opinion on if it was something that could happen but the underlying request was easy enough for Claire to see. Typically the park wouldn’t invest that kind of money in something that wasn’t an attraction. The only reason the raptors were there in the first place was because of InGen’s plans for them. But Claire was in a position so that she could influence a decision regarding rebuilding the raptor pack. Given the situation that cost half the pack she’d certainly be willing to do so.

“Normally they wouldn’t invest the money but given the situation I could help the request along if you decide that you want to rebuild the pack, especially if it’s better for their well-being that the pack be bigger than just the two. Just let me know if that’s what you decide on.”

“That’s great, really. I mean we aren’t sure yet but it’s good to know that if I get Owen on board it’s a possibility. I really appreciate it Claire.”

“Get Owen on board?” Claire questioned, raising an eyebrow at you.

“He’s a little more skeptical about it than I am. He’s worried that the girls, especially Blue, won’t take to newcomers. I think that they might just look at them as their young and if we play our cards right they’ll accept them to rebuild the pack. But I don’t want him to feel like I’m trying to assert myself in his pack, I just want the girls to be okay again and the pack to get as much back to how it used to be as we can manage.” It answered her question but also made Claire realize that it was starting to seem like if you weren’t saying something about the paddock, whatever came out of your mouth had to do with Owen. “Anyway, what do I have to answer now?”

“Do you realize you only talk about two things?” Claire’s original plan was to see if you realized that you were constantly on the topic of the paddock but now she was just curious, maybe she’d get you back for you asking her if she had something going on with Owen.

“What do you mean?” You did not just talk about two things. Sure a lot of them could probably be lumped together as work related but there were definitely more than two things weren’t there?

“I thought that you were just always talking about work, or thinking about it but now I’ve realized if you aren’t talking directly about something here you’re talking about Owen. What Owen thinks, what Owen has been doing. You sure there isn’t something going on there you aren’t saying?” Claire teased.

“I talk about more than just work and Owen! And I don’t talk about Owen that much, of course he’s going to be brought up when he’s part of work! There is nothing going on with me and Owen!” You argued, snapping your attention to Blue and Delta “You shut up I do not!”

“See, even they agree. Even if you’re bringing Owen up as work, that just means all you talk about is work, all the time. I’ve noticed, Owen noticed, he hasn’t noticed how much you talk about him but his girls have. If you can give me a time that you don’t talk about work I’ll let the whole thing go.” Great, fantastic! One time and Claire would drop this nonsense completely. Only problem was that you couldn’t actually thing of something you’d talked about that didn’t somehow end up being about work. You weren’t going to admit any further talking about Owen and everything else really did cycle back around to work.

“Okay I don’t see what the issue is, I’m just really dedicated to making this all work out. It’s not like I talked about work all the time before.” And damn those perceptive raptors to hell at that, picking up on stupid little things like you talking about their alpha too much. “It isn’t a big deal.”

“And that date with Owen was nothing at all?” She knew you weren’t going to have any idea what she was talking about but she’d since decided that trying to really casually get you to realize anything wasn’t going to work.

“What date with Owen?! Where are you even getting any of this from?!”

“So you haven’t gone out with Owen?”

“We had dinner and we talked about work, it wasn’t a date.”

“Did Owen say that or did you decide it?”

“He asked if I wanted to grab dinner, why is this a game of twenty questions?”

“He didn’t mean to talk about work Y/N, he was trying to take you on a date.” Smart, but god were you being dense about this. She could see jumping to a conclusion about something being a date when it isn’t but you’d gone in the complete opposite direction.

“He was not! He would have said so if it was supposed to be a date.” Hello, earth to Claire, Owen was the least subtle person you knew.

“Not if he thought you knew and he didn’t want to make things awkward when you started talking about work! How can you not have noticed at all that he’s been trying to ask you out?”

“He hasn’t! He’s just been weirdly close and overprotective all the time.”

“He’s trying to get your attention and you’re so focused on this place that you don’t even notice it. When was the last time you stopped focusing on the paddock long enough to notice anything?” You paid attention plenty! You noticed how upset Owen was any of the night that he ended up showing up at your place, but that seemed a bit too personal to share with Claire. You didn’t need to tell her about it, have it get back to Owen and have him feeling like you’d broken his trust by telling her. It wasn’t like you didn’t notice that he was always a lot closer than usual, you just didn’t attribute it to what Claire was claiming it to be. “Here’s a great chance for you to really pay attention.” You were about to question what she was on about now until Blue and Delta focused their attention past the two of you. Great, you really wanted to be in the cage with Owen when you were suddenly having an internal crisis about him.

“I really hate you right now,” You muttered to Claire. Damn her for throwing this all at you then ditching you in the cage with him. You didn’t even want to know what she was whispering to Owen on her way out. “I don’t know that locking the door was necessary.” You remarked, trying not to be entirely obvious that you’d rather be anywhere else at the moment. Say Claire was right and Owen had meant the dinner to be a date, you’d managed to make an ass of yourself treating it like another opportunity to talk his ear off about the paddock, just like you did all day every day. Of course Owen wouldn’t have stopped you to point out that it was supposed to be a date, he wasn’t the type to make things awkward or put you on the spot like that. You just really would have liked some times to figure everything out before you were forced to interact with him.

“If you want to chase the girls across the park and have Claire throw a fit you’re welcome to go unlock it.” Okay maybe it had been a slightly conscious effort to keep you from running off, especially after the look on Claire’s face told him exactly what she’d been talking to you about. But he also didn’t feel like ending up with a loose raptor or two. “Otherwise the stool is probably not a good idea.”

“You can’t seriously mean you’re opening the gate with me in here! They don’t like me that damn much,” You replied, tentatively getting off the stool. You’d been largely assuming you’d grown on the girls, but you hadn’t planned on testing that theory up close and personal. You were just fine with the head restraints testing and in all honesty the idea of them being able to get at you was more than a little daunting. Owen did exactly mean to open the gate with you in there, not completely but more than enough that the girls could come under it if they wanted to.

“Well come on.” Claire might’ve had her idea of how to get you focused on something else once in a while but Owen had his own. It could backfire and just leave you spending all your time talking about getting really close and not eaten but whatever. He’d been meaning to do this for a while anyway. “You trust me don’t you?”

“That is completely unfair. There is a huge different between trusting someone and them asking you to go in the paddock with something that notoriously loves to bite people. OH GOD!” Panicking is maybe not the best way to handle one of said raptors coming under the gate and right to you but it seemed pretty reasonable to you. Blue however had no problem herding you right over to Owen.

“They’ve never tried to bite you, you’re overreacting and now you’re back in to a corner.”

“I don’t think you really count as being backed in to a corner, and last I remember I’ve still got claw marks from Echo.”

“Everyone has marks from Echo, if she wasn’t making someone bleed she wasn’t happy. If Blue wanted to hurt you she’d have just drug you under the gate.” 

“You aren’t making me feel any better Owen!” Okay so maybe the arm he slipped around your waist did just a little bit, but he ruined that by taking your hand and holding it out to Blue. Owen present or not you were just waiting to at the very least lose some fingers, not have Blue rubbing her snout on your hand. It had you trembling but you couldn’t be sure if it was from fear or excitement or a mix of both.

“See, there you go. Worrying for no reason at all.”

“Right, because if you weren’t standing there she’d still be acting like this. We both know she’s playing nice because of you, not because she likes me.” Suddenly his hand dropped from yours and his arm disappeared from around your waist. “Owen?” When you looked over he’d moved away from you and to the other side of the gate leaving you on the cage side with Blue. “You son of a bitch!”

“Just proving a point.” Owen responded, moving farther in to the paddock. Blue only stayed with you until Owen started moving, at which point she joined him and Delta in the paddock. She started towards Owen before running back to the gate and calling to you.

“She wants me to follow…”

“I would have to say that’s what she’s getting at and do you remember what Blue does when she doesn’t get her way?” Of course you did, Blue was a little diva and when she didn’t get her way she got irritable. You didn’t want to deal with Blue being irritable and you definitely didn’t want her irritable when Owen was standing in the middle of the paddock.

“Well now what oh magnificent alpha?” You questioned after both raptors ran off the second you were in the paddock.

“We chase them.”

“You’re going to get us eaten, I’m not chasing a pair of raptors through their paddock!”

“You are, you want us to get more raptors show me you can handle the ones we’ve got. We can’t count on Barry coming back and you’re the only other person I trust with the girls. So we’re going to play a little game with them, they loved this shit when they were little.”

“You used to chase them when they were babies?” That was cute, the image of Owen chasing after the baby raptors.

“They liked hide and seek, it helped them work on their hunting at least until they got too big. I forget that you weren’t here for that.”

“Yeah, I got here when they were already big enough to eat everyone and wouldn’t hesitate to do so.”

“Well you can play with them now, and if we get a few more you can play with them too, just be ready to add on some more battle scars, they aren’t as nice as you’d think.”

“I wouldn’t think they’d be nice as babies, just a little less dangerous and more rambunctious. Christ they’re impatient.” You remarked, hearing calls from wherever the girls had run off to hide.

“Well we shouldn’t keep them waiting,” Owen laughed, grabbing you by your wrist and dragging you in a different direction.

“I thought we were chasing them?”

“Not yet, quiet.” He instructed, pulling you down with him in to some bushes. He was being serious about this, playing hide and seek with grown raptors. They could hunt something across the island and you were trying to hide from them. It was going to fail miserably but if you didn’t get maimed it could be fun. It was a welcome distraction at least, doing a fantastic job at keeping you from thinking about your conversation with Claire. You were however incredibly aware of Owen, hard not to be when he had you tucked between his legs as the two of you hid.

In the quiet you almost thought the girls had gotten confused and started looking for you elsewhere. It acted as just another reminder that the girls were a hell of a lot smarter than you were currently giving them credit for. The sudden appearance of Delta’s face next to yours had you jumping backwards into Owen in surprise as you let out a squeal. It made you a little sad to think that if Echo and Charlie were there they’d have had you surrounded in no time. Instead it was just Delta to one side and Blue eyeing the pair of you rather curiously from the front. You were suspicious of the look she was giving you but just as soon as the pair appeared they were chirping at you and running off again.

“I guess that makes it our turn.” You laughed, pushing yourself to your feet. “Do we just chase after them?” 

“Yeah you wish, we have to chase them and we have to find them.”

“I meant do we have to do something special or do we just track them down smart ass.”

“We just track them down, that’s hard enough on its own believe me.”

“You never know with these girls, if they’re going to expect something else. Split up, beat them at their own game?” Owen grinned at your idea, holding a finger up to his lips before motioning you off in one direction and going in the other.

Owen’s plan had only in part been to test just how well you could work up close with the girls. He was being serious about you helping him with the girls, especially if he caved and decided to see about getting a few more for the pack. He didn’t blame Barry if he didn’t come back, he’d been chased through the jungle by the girls and nearly eaten by Blue. That still meant Owen could use some help and if he had his choice of anyone on the island you’d still be his first choice. He trusted you and the girls trusted you and that was what he needed if he was going to get the pack back on track. His other motive was to distract you, he’d noticed your discomfort the moment you realized that he was there. Obviously Claire had said more than just something to pull your attention away from work, especially if her little comment about asking you again was anything to go by. Whatever she’d said was enough to make you uncomfortable around him and he really didn’t like that. So far both plans were working, you were doing great with the girls and twice already he’d had you right up against him and you didn’t so much as flinch.

It had been a long time since he’d played this game with the girls and if he was honest he was only doing it now because it was just the two of them. Fully grown he wouldn’t have tried with all four even after the incident and he sure as hell wouldn’t have done it with you in there with him. Blue had been good with you so maybe he was pressing his luck but with how they’d been he was leaning towards believing that the girls would keep playing nice. That still left the matter of tracking the girls down and depending on your mood when the game was done, seeing what you were doing tonight for dinner.

The downside of being off on your own trying to find the girls was it gave you solitary time to think, which of course brought you back to what Claire had been saying. Had you really been so distracted that you didn’t notice Owen’s apparent interest in you? You were paying attention now and he didn’t seem like he was trying to get himself a date, but if he knew what Claire said to you maybe he didn’t want to throw that at you right now. You were however excited at the aspect of acting as Owen’s second with the girls. You’d always loved working with the girls that would practically be a dream come true for you. If you were properly getting what Owen hinting at, he didn’t just mean for you to be his second he meant for you to help him keep training Blue and Delta, and work on training any new raptors that were hatched. Train them, not just observe but train them like Owen did.

Finding the girls was far from easy, even as big as they were. They blended in very well and of course knew how to hide so it was coming down to careful examination of the surroundings and listening for any movement. Delta apparently had trouble sitting still very long and gave herself away by moving. A few crunches of the ground cover gave you a direction to head in and before long you had spotted her in some of the trees. You were feeling rather triumphant at the success, distracted enough that if Delta hadn’t leapt out to intercept Blue and Owen he might’ve managed to surprise you.

One round of raptor hide-and-seek was plenty for you and with the girls distracted with each other you and Owen were easily able to slip back out of the paddock before they even realized the gate was closing again. That could most definitely be thrown right at the top of your list of most amazing experiences of your life, something that very likely to never be shared with any other person but Owen. You were almost sure that was more exciting because it was just between you and Owen than it was because no one else would ever get to do it.

“You’re seriously my favorite person ever that was amazing!”

“Little while ago you were swearing I was going to get you eaten.”

“Well I take it back obviously! You’re definitely my favorite person.”

“Do I get a reward for being your absolute favorite person ever and letting you play hide and seek with my girls?”

“I think a reward is definitely in order. Within reason mind you!”

“Dinner, no talking about work allowed,” Owen responded after feigning having to think about what he wanted as a reward.

“Date dinner or dinner where someone doesn’t tell me they’re after a date and let me be probably the worst date in the universe.”

“So she did tell you about that.”

“Yeah, right after she called me oblivious a few times and told me I talk about work too much. Just a really quick work thing though, I might’ve asked her about our chances of even getting more raptors.”

“I already did, asked her not to tell you about it because I’d never hear the end of it if you thought I was giving in already.”

“So she’s allowed to tell me that you’ve been trying to ask me out but not that you already talked to her about our shot at new raptors?”

“She wasn’t supposed to bring that up either, she just said she was going to find a way to get you to talk about something other than work.”

“You never answered my question you know.” You hadn’t figured Owen actually asked her to say something to you, let alone that he told her in any way that she should tell you that he wanted to ask you out. You could’ve been nicer and made it easy on him, but that would take some of the fun out of it.

“Date dinner, you knew that when I said it.”

“Maybe I didn’t, maybe I thought you were just hungry and wanted to take your beloved coworker to get some food again.”

“You’re going to make me regret this aren’t you?”

“The date maybe not, giving me so much to tease you with absolutely. And you better watch, the girls will decide I’m their new favorite.”

“They will not, they’re being nice because they know I like you.”

“Oooh, Owen has a crush!”

“I asked you out to dinner!”

“Bet that’s embarrassing.”

“So embarrassing you have no idea. Now you know that I asked you out because I like you! What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“Not only that, now I know that you must be talking to the raptors about your crush on me. You giant dweeb.”

“You’re the one that agreed to go on a date with the giant dweeb, doesn’t say much about you.”

“It says less that I think it would be really funny if next time you see Claire you tell her you asked me out again and I talked about the girls the whole time. I just really want to see her face, I swear I will do my absolute best to not talk about work at all.”

“You’re terrible.”

“I know, you know, you like it. We should leave because I need to go home and shower and change if you’re taking me out to dinner. I don’t go on dates smelling like jungle and dinosaur even when my date also smells like jungle and dinosaur.”

“Go ahead, I’ll get everything locked up.”

“You better be on time Grady, you stand me up and I’ll tell Claire that I hate you both and never speak to either of you again unless it’s about work.”

“Go! I’ll be over to get you as soon as I change.”

“And shower! No smelling like raptor on the first date.”

“Technically…”

“Technically that other one doesn’t count because you never told me that was a real date!” You reminded as you walked to your vehicle.

“Yeah yeah,” Owen called after you, heading back to the paddock to lock everything up for the night. “Don’t give me that look Blue, I told her,” Owen muttered at the raptor, wasting little time in locking up and getting home. He wasn’t sure what your idea of on time was but he sure as hell wasn’t going to be late. He’d definitely have to thank Claire later though even if he’d thought her attempt was going to fail given that it had clearly worked wonders. Now it was just up to him to earn a second date, and any dates after that if things went like he hoped.


End file.
